Evangers no longer puts in Vit K as of Aug. 'o6. All labels are not changed yet.

That's good news.  Might be a good backup for the cats.  Dogs are already enjoying a combo of Merrick and Evangers wet.

[I can assure you that we only use Human grade ingredients in our Merrick 5 Star products (and always have) and we 100% do not use any rendered meats or by-products in any pet food products that we manufacture. Merrick offers the largest line of natural holistic dog cans in the industry (18 canned varieties). Merrick Pet Care does not own a rendering facility. There is a Merrick family member who is an investor in an outside rendering facility; however, the facility is not located in the same city as our manufacturing facilities. It is totally illegal for any dog food company to use rendered materials in their products. The main purpose of the rendering facility is to remove the hides from the cows and then sell them to leather manufacturing companies.Merrick Pet Care is the only award winner that has won three consecutive years in a row Best Pet Foods of The Year from the Glycemic Research Institute. These diets are made to help diabetic, older and overweight dogs. We absolutely 100% strictly adhere to our corporate philosophy as stated above and no rendered parts are used in our premium products. Please keep in mind that our line consists of various protein sources other than beef such as chicken, turkey, duck, quail, lamb, trout, venison and buffalo. If I can be of further assistance let me know.Sincerely,ToniMerrick Pet Care]

and about the rendering plant (please note, I have immediately sent back a reply
asking about having heard that the rendering plant is not only in the same city but is located right next to the manufacturing facilities - waiting for a reply.  But I must say, I do believe (or want to) believe what she told me.  The dogs and cats LOVE the Merrick wet.

Well, here it is folks:


I can assure you that we only use Human grade ingredients in our Merrick 5 Star products (and always have) and we 100% do not use any rendered meats or by-products in any pet food products that we manufacture.  Merrick offers the largest line of natural holistic dog cans in the industry (18 canned varieties).   

Merrick Pet Care does not own a rendering facility.  There is a Merrick family member who is an investor in an outside rendering facility; however, the facility is not located in the same city as our manufacturing facilities.  It is totally illegal for any dog food company to use rendered materials in their products.  The main purpose of the rendering facility is to remove the hides from the cows and then sell them to leather manufacturing companies.

Merrick Pet Care is the only award winner that has won three consecutive years in a row Best Pet Foods of The Year from the Glycemic Research Institute.  These diets are made to help diabetic, older and overweight dogs. 

We absolutely 100% strictly adhere to our corporate philosophy as stated above and no rendered parts are used in our premium products.  Please keep in mind that our line consists of various protein sources other than beef such as chicken, turkey, duck, quail, lamb, trout, venison and buffalo.

If I can be of further assistance let me know.

Sincerely,
Toni
Merrick Pet Care

[Hello,I apologize for the delayed response, as you can imagine, due to the recent Pet Food recalls, we have been inundated with e-mails, phone calls and voice messages. By the way, none of our products are affected by these recalls.We do not use wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate, we use the whole grain rice. We do have vegetables and fish in our foods. You can view all the ingredients at www.merrickpetcare.com; under entrees, just click on the flavor and the ingredients are listed below the picture.We buy our Lamb and Venison from New Zealand and Australia, everything else comes from USDA sourced facilities, we do not buy anything from China and we manufacture everything in Hereford, TX.I will forward another email with information about the rendering plant.Thank you,ToniMerrick Pet Care]

I got a reply today!


Hello,

I apologize for the delayed response, as you can imagine, due to the recent Pet Food recalls, we have been inundated with e-mails, phone calls and voice messages.  By the way, none of our products are affected by these recalls.

We do not use wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate, we use the whole grain rice. We do have vegetables and fish in our foods. You can view all the ingredients at www.merrickpetcare.com; under entrees, just click on the flavor and the ingredients are listed below the picture.

We buy our Lamb and Venison from New Zealand and Australia, everything else comes from USDA sourced facilities, we do not buy anything from China and we manufacture everything in Hereford, TX.

I will forward another email with information about the rendering plant.

Thank you,
Toni
Merrick Pet Care

I have fed the small bag of DUCK A LA VEG and they really liked it.  I chose Fromm's
while waiting for orders of Felidae and Kumpikat.  Out of the 3 the cats like the
Kumpi best.  The female likes the Felidae but the male doesn't.  Fromm's would be
a good back up food for me - they were doing fine on it.  The male's allergies went away pretty fast (he gets a swollen lower lip and won't stop licking and he did after I switched from Natural Balance (due to the recall) to the Fromm's while waiting for
other orders.  I'll keep him on Kumpi and her on Felidae and see how it goes.  They are both still eating Merrick wet (half a small can a day).

Good luck getting a reply.  I have now sent them 3 emails.  4/19, 4/25 and again this morning.  All I asked about was their grains sources in light of the recalls and about the rumors of 4D animals.  No reply whatsoever to this day. 

Although I continue to feed my dogs and cats the wet and the dogs the dry food I am having reservations as the unanswered email days multiply.  I can't understand a company not even sending out a generic reply.  I've been completely ignored.  So as of this week the dogs are on Evangers wet but Merrick dry.  Cats are on Felidae dry and Kumpikat dry and Merrick wet.  They refuse the Felidae wet.  Nothing left to feed in the wet department (evangers uses vitamin k so I won't feed that). 

In any case, I am really upset by Merrick's utter avoidance of answering emails.  What is up with that?

Tommyboy,

I know i'm not blind, still, I went back and checked again and there is absolutely
nothing printed on my bag besides the front and back stickers with the name
and ingredients.  Maybe I got a bag that escaped the encoder?

I just ordered Felidae and Kumpikat last week.  They both arrived today!  I opened Kumpikat first
and both cats threw themselves on the food like they haven't eaten in days (in fact, they've been
eating quite well on Merrick wet and Fromm's dry).  When I opened the Felidae both approached
and tried it right away.  The male cat turned around after two bites and went back to munching
on the Kumpikat.  The female stayed and happily continued eating Felidae.  I'm glad they like both
and I'm glad I can keep both bags and feed them (albeit seperately) to both cats.

Kumpikat vs. Felidae

Bix, the male cat, walked up to the Felidae, took two bites and turned around and went to the
dish with the Kumpikat.  Lola showed the same enthusiasm and appetite towards the Felidae as
she did Kumpikat.  She stayed at the Felidae dish while Bix ate the Kumpi.  I think it's clear I need
to buy a second bowl and they'll stick to their favorites.

Just walked in and opened my first delivery of Kumpikat.  Question (and i'm sorry if this was
already discussed and I just missed it) I could not find an expiration date or lot number on the
bag (I looked at every inch about 3 times).  How will they know, hypothetically speaking, if
there's an issue with the food when each one was made?  That seems odd to me.

That's just my opinion.  Here's how my cat's reacted to Kumpikat:  Before I even fully opened the silver bag they were both up on the desk trying to smell the bag.  Once I did open it a crack my male cat, Bix, put his whole head in! ha ha.  I poured some out and the 2 cats share one kibble dish and they were actually pushing each other out of the way to eat it.  I would rate their enthusiasm and appetite towards the food as a 10 out of 10.

So does anyone know about the expiration/lot/tracking info not being on the bag?  Perhaps Evy will see
this and post.

Now, no offense, but I also just got an order of Felidae in.  Let's see how that goes.

My first bag of Kumpikat is waiting at home.  Let's see if they like it.

Was doing a little research on the Yucca myself.  Will post tomorrow
and await Evy's reply in regards to that ingredient as well.